Paper Things by Jennifer Richard Jacobson Page B

about to say something, to tell Sasha that I have something very important to tell her — something that will explain everything — when Daniel grabs my backpack and yanks.
    “Cut it —”
    “I’ll do it,” he says.
    “You’ll do what?”
    “Help you get a leadership role. And apply to Carter.”
    I had forgotten all about my note to Daniel. I want to ask Daniel how he plans to help, but just then, the morning announcements begin. While we stand for the national anthem, I look over at Sasha. We always exchange a glance during the anthem, our here-we-go-again look. But today she doesn’t turn back, doesn’t catch my eye. She looks at Linnie instead.
    It’s OK, Arianna Hazard,
I tell myself.
You like being invisible. You’re good at it.
I decide not to tell Sasha about my situation, after all — not until she acknowledges that I exist.
    All morning long, I glide in and out of classes, pretending that I’m a ghost. It’s actually amazing how easy this is. Most of my teachers have long given up calling on me, which normally would upset me but which I don’t mind today. It just makes being invisible all the easier.
    At lunchtime, I ask Mr. O. if I can do work in his room again. He asks to see the work I did yesterday during lunch. Fortunately, I’ve completed the introduction and three new pages. I’ve written about Louisa May’s childhood — how she’d had to move frequently and how she’d written in her journal, “I wish I was rich, I was good, and we were all a happy family this day.”
    “Very good, Arianna,” Mr. O. says, handing my pages back to me. “Let’s see if you can’t match yesterday’s productivity. I’ll be in the teachers’ lounge if you need me.”
    Inside my backpack I have a salami-and-cheese sandwich that Nate made me. Now that Gage has a job, I told him after breakfast that Janna had not only stopped paying for his phone but also my hot lunch — though I wish I hadn’t, since Gage’s whole body tensed as he sprayed angry words: “Why didn’t you tell me, Ari! I can’t believe she cut you off! I just assumed that you were set for the rest of the year!”
    Chloe went over and put her arm around him, but he was too mad to be comforted by her touch.
    “She just wants to put the screws to us,” he continued. “Like always, Janna has to prove that she’s the one who knows everything. I can’t believe she would do that to you, Ari!”
    “Ari probably qualifies for free lunch,” Nate said.
    “Not until we can put an address on the form,” Gage replied.
    I probably could have started the circle game with that line, but I knew Gage wasn’t in the mood to play.
    He sat down on the couch beside me and held open my backpack while I tried to fit in some clean clothes and my schoolwork, too. “I promise I’m going to fix this,” he said.
    I struggled to slip my Paper Things folder into my backpack.
    “Do you believe me, Ari?”
    I looked at Gage and nodded.
    “We can do this. I know we can. We’re a team, right?”
    “A team,” I said.
    I’m writing the next section of my report when Daniel walks into the room.
    “Did you get permission to be here?” I ask. I’m afraid that he’s going to get us both in trouble.
    “Which items on my list do you want to do?” he asks, ignoring me and flipping a chair around so he’s straddling it backward.
    “There’s one more round of leadership announcements before the end of the year,” I say. “Can you guarantee that one of those jobs will be mine?”
    He shakes his head. “Face it, Ari. The odds of getting one of those final positions are slim.”
    I look away for a moment, wondering if everyone in the school has noticed how badly I’m doing.
    “But,” he continues, “I can give you a
suggestion.”
    I raise my eyebrows.
    “Invent your own leadership role,” Daniel says.
    I frown. “What do you mean?”
    “Come up with something helpful to do and then ask a teacher if you can do it. I bet you’d even get extra